Cleve Cole Hut to Mt Wills, AAWT, Alpine National Park - November 2017

The view from the front door of Cleve Cole Hut looked promising this morning.

I was awake fairly early after my night up at Cleve Cole Hut, while it was nice to have some people to talk to last night and I really enjoyed the company, I was already looking forward to heading off on my own again. Heading outside it looked like I was going to be lucky with the weather again too, with plenty of blue sky around. With no wet tent to pack up again today I was saying my goodbyes to my new friends on on my way before 8am this morning.

I was following the snow pole line for a little longer this morning.

I was now dropping down slightly, still following the Hotham Bogong pole line towards the old Maddisons Hut Site. The walk down here in the early morning light was beautiful, Camp Valley being particularly photogenic in the golden light. After passing a group of walkers who were out for a week exploring the Bogong High Plains and Mt Bogong areas I arrived at the track junction below Madissons Hut Site. This track junction was were I’d pick up the official AAWT route again, it was also the spot were I’d leave the snow pole line that I’d been following on and off since leaving Mt Hotham.

Camp Valley

The AAWT now climbs a little to Bossiaea Hill before starting what can sometimes seem an endless descent down the appropriately named Long Spur. The upper sections of Long Spur use to be covered in beautiful old Snow Gums which made for very nice walking, but like a lot of the alpine country they are mostly dead white skeletons now after the big fires. The stubble of dead Snow Gums did allow for a few long range views though, so I suppose that’s one positive. I’d heard a few conflicting reports of the condition of the AAWT along here, with some reports of scrub and fallen trees impeding progress a bit. So I was pretty happy to find that the track clearing fairies had been down, and with only a couple of exceptions conditions were relatively clear.

Madissons Hut Site

I climbed up this shallow valley towards Bossiaea Hill, Madissons Hut Site is down the bottom of the valley in the trees.

The top of Long Spur near Bossiaea Hill.

The upper reaches of Long Spur have the AAWT passing through a lot of dead Snow Gums now days.

Now even though I was descending Long Spur the walking this morning wasn’t all down hill, there are plenty of small knolls along the spur that the pad crosses over. Somewhere along here I also left the Alpine National Park and entered State Forest for awhile, I’m guessing it was roughly at the same time that I started to see the occasional picnic table. After a fair bit of climbing and descending I eventually arrived at the turn off to Mulhauser Spur, complete with a dilapidated gate and sign post. I wasn’t going down Mulhauser Spur today though. Climbing over a steep knoll the AAWT continues down Long Spur, when I went through here the next couple of hundred metres were pretty scrubby but I’m told that since I’ve been through it’s all been cleared.

I did get some fairly good views up on Long Spur though.

Looking down the length of Long Spur towards tonights destination, Mt Wills.

I'm thinking that I'm passing through State Forest land now.

Long Spur

That knob is the top of Muhauser Spur.

Emerging from the scrub at…another picnic table, I stopped for a bit of a break. The day wasn’t super warm but it was a little oppressive and I was definitely working up a sweat even though in theory I was heading down hill. It was here that I picked up an old fire track that I would now follow in one version or another all the way down to the start of my climb up Mt Wills at Big River Saddle. Once on the fire track the AAWT drops a little more seriously, there are still a few ups and downs but its definitely more down than up. I was now out of the Snow Gum Forests and passing through Alpine Ash as I descended, the wide track now meaning that any navigation or scrub issues were largely forgotten for awhile. The fire track continues down the crest of Long Spur for 3 or 4 kilometres before dropping off to the east and contouring.

Hey, I have made a little progress after all...it didn't always feel like I was today;)

Long Spur had one pretty scrubby section, although I believe that it now has been cleared.

Looking back up Long Spur from the spot where the track leaves the crest, hey that milestone called for another break!

Once off the spur crest the sidling track passed over a few small streams, now this was a good thing as I hadn’t had a chance to top up my water since way back at Madissons Hut Site, my days of carefree walking when it came to water over on the Bogong High Plains a quickly receding memory. Meeting Big River Road I gave the AAWT short cut over the end of a spur a miss, the wall of blackberries enough to turn me off (interestingly Chapman doesn’t even mention this short section) and trucked on down Big River Road. After another half hour or so of pretty cruisey dirt road shuffling I arrived at the grassy Big River Saddle, this grassy saddle is not a bad spot to camp if you’re not feeling up to the 550 metre climb up to Mt Wills, although the Mittagundi Mob had a big camp set up there today so I’m thinking that the climb might have been the better of the two evils, we’ll that was the theory anyway!

Give this short cut a miss and stay on Big River Road I think, unless you really like scrub bashing.

Big River Road

After climbing approximately ten metres from Big River Saddle up the scrubby pad it was already time for smoko, laying on my pack sprawled on the track it was slightly disconcerting that I could still see the Mittagundi tents through the scrub, yep only another 540 metres to climb….no worries then. Suitably fortified after a swig of warm water I was up and on my way again, making it around another 20 metres before once again collapsing in a sweaty heap on the ground, now I know it was only 20 metres because I could still those bloody Mittagundi tents in the saddle below me, f*#k this was going to be a long afternoon at this rate! Dropping into low range I set off once again chugging my way up towards Mt Wills, this time I managed to keep the Feral mojo on track and slowly but surely inched my way up the side of the mountain. The good news was that the higher I climbed the more open the country became (always a good thing for the Feral mojo), the little openings of snow grass and familiar Snow Gums improving the scenery and my mood, immensely.

About 10 metres up my climb of Mt Wills and I'm already broken, bugger me I can still see Bogong Creek Saddle through the trees.

Alright, it's time to get serious.....in a minute.

Climbing higher up the flank of Mt Wills towards Mt Wills Track the scenery and walking started to get a little more inspiring.

Wandering through these Snow Grass openings is always nice.

Meeting up with the dirt Mt Wills Track meant that the worst of the climb was over, but like yesterday it looked like I’d be racing some weather to camp. Walking up this track it normally pays to stop occasionally and take in the ever expanding views back over your shoulder across to Mt Bogong and the Bogong High Plains, with some nasty weather looking fairly imminent I decided to head straight to the hut and then wander down here later this afternoon when hopefully the dodgy weather had passed through. To cut a long boring story short, I arrived at the salubrious Mt Wills Hut just as the first large rain drops started to splatter on me. Finding the hut empty I set about making myself comfortable while I waited for the storm to pass.

Meeting up with Mt Wills Road meant that the hardest climbing was over for the day.

Glancing back towards Mt Bogong as I shuffled up Mt Wills Track, I was trying to beat the rain.

Mt Wills Hut is just around the corner. I'm pretty happy that I've made it without getting wet.

After doing a bit of reading and listening to a bit of ABC local radio, eating dinner and generally chilling out, my cunning plan actually worked out and the weather cleared as I’d hoped for. The summit area of Mt Wills is a really nice spot, it’s littered with big granite boulders and beautiful Snow Gums and now, with the storm gone and the late afternoon sun lighting things up, it was hard to take a bad photo up here. If you find yourself up on Mt Wills at sunset one day it’s worth climbing up onto the the huge boulders near the hut to watch night creep in over the many ridge lines and deep valleys to the east.

Mt Wills Hut is a fairly luxurious High Country hut.

The hut even features two bedrooms.

The Dirt.
I walked 18 kilometres and climbed 925 metres on another hard day. The stats for the AAWT after 20 days of walking are 332 kilometres along with 16,570 metres of climbing. Water isn’t available once leaving Madissons Hit Site until arriving down on the contouring fire track off the side of Long Spur before Big River Saddle. There is tank water at Mt Wills Hut but obviously that depends on usage and recent rain, when I was there it was chockas though. Camping is once again available fairly frequently, water being the limiting factor in where you’d camp. Navigation today isn’t too bad as far as the AAWT goes, things can get a little cryptic occasionally but keeping an eye on the map should be enough to get through safely, the climb up from Big River Saddle to Mt Wills Track is a bit scrubby but it was easily doable when I went through. I got a Telstra signal tonight up on Mt Wills. I used John Chapman’s notes and maps as well as Rooftop’s Bright - Dartmouth Adventure Map for an overview.

Relevant Posts.
AAWT, Day 1, October 2017.
AAWT, Previous day, November 2017.
Mt Bogong, Alpine National Park, 1993.

The storms gone through and the suns out in time for sunset.

This rocky outcrop is a good spot to perch yourself for sunset.

I'm still looking pretty happy with life.

Looking back towards the start of todays stroll at Mt Bogong at dusk.

Time for bed I think...